


The Roads We’re Forced to Walk [Set A Fire In My Head remix]

by litra



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fix-It, Podfic Welcome, Remix, So i can crush it all over again., Time Travel, future knowledge, more hurt then comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-12-26 19:40:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12065691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra
Summary: Mick's waiting for the worst phone call he's ever going to get.





	The Roads We’re Forced to Walk [Set A Fire In My Head remix]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ameliapll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ameliapll/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Set a Fire In My Head](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11650116) by [Ameliapll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ameliapll/pseuds/Ameliapll). 



 

Mick wished he was drunk. He couldn’t afford it, had to be on his game today of all days. Couldn't let anything slip. He knew as soon as the call came, as soon as it was done he was going to break.

The phone sat on the table, screen dark. He wondered who the call would come from, Lisa probably.

Amaya’s waiting in the other room. For all her being from the past and only joining the crew later on, she’s still the only one who understood. She knew this kind of loss. The kind you have every opportunity to stop all the while knowing that to do so would be wrong. She had to go back to her own time and have a daughter knowing all the while her girl would be gunned down. Mick, well…

Mick got today.

Mick doesn’t remember all the details of what the time masters did to him. It’s the results that matter. He knows the timeline. Knows it forwards as well as back. He’s outside of it, and as long as he doesn’t make any ripples it’ll let him live his life. Amaya’s in the same boat because of the spear.

They know all the terrible things that are coming. The Thanagarian invasion. The darkest night, and brightest day. Darkside, and Mongol. Luthor in the whitehouse. The Crisis.

It’s not all bad. Flash paved the way. Soon word will spread about the Batman of Gotham and Superman… Wonder Woman. Next year a green comet will crash in the California desert and a few weeks later Coast City will have a new hero.

Amaya likes the idea of the Justice League, but then, she would. She was a hero from the start. Not like him. For him, getting out was the easy part. Staying out was like holding a match and knowing it was his last one. Gritting his teeth to keep from striking it.

Thank God for Amaya, that beautiful, kind, strong, patient woman. Without her, he wouldn’t have made it half this far.

The phone continued to sit there silent and ominous.

Mick wondered if it had started yet. He doesn’t know the details. The details don’t really matter because time wants to happen.

Leonard Snart dies today.

It could be a bar fight, or a botched job. Maybe the Flash called him in on something. Mick’s been sitting here in the dark, a single thick beeswax candle for company- the kind that burned for hours. It’s not like he’d know if there was something going on. Not that it has to be something big. It could just as easily be something simple, small, an accident, a mistake.

Somehow, between the Spear, Flashpoint and the aftermath of Doomworld. Leonard Snart had come back to life. Or he’d never died. Until today.

The phone rang.

Mick picked it up without looking, croaking out a gruff, “Hello?”

“Mick,” Len’s voice was rich and smooth. The voice he used when he was playing an angle, trying to get Mick to agree to something.

Mick felt his fist clench. God, why did Len have to call now? Mick could warn him. Tell him to put off whatever he was planning. Tell him to go home, lock his door and stay there…. Yeah, right. Like Len would ever listen to that kind of advice, even from him.

“You still in town? We could meet up--”

Mick cut him off, “I already told you Snart. I’m out.” Best to rip the bandage off fast.

“I know Mick, I just thought… It’s been a while. We could get lunch. Nothing more, I promise.”

Lunch? Fuck, was it still that early? He’d thought, hoped, that the day was closer to being done then that.

“I can’t” Mick had to force the words out. His throat had closed up.

Len started to speak, but Mick ended the call before he could hear more then the first word. His hands were white knuckled around the sturdy case. The candle flame blurred as his eyes teared up. Frustration… mostly.

Amaya stopped in the doorway for a moment before stepping forward. She set a steaming at his elbow, and sat beside him.

“Was that it?”

“No.” Mick picked up the mug. He briefly thought it was hot chocolate, but Amaya knew better than to push buttons at a time like this. He breathed in the steam from the tea and shook his head. “He wanted to get lunch.”

“You know, you don’t have to wait like this. No one will think less of you if you turn the phone off and get the news tomorrow.”

He heard the words she didn’t say. That it wouldn’t make a difference. Amaya had avoided the news for a full week when her village was attacked, then cried herself to sleep for a month. Mick might not be able to stop it, but he wasn’t going to avoid it and prolong the torture.

“No,” he said again.

She watched his face for a few long seconds then leaned in. The kiss was soft, a promise. She’d be there when it was finished. Then she left him to his vigil.   

Mick put his phone back on the table, and watched as his candle slowly burnt down.

The phone rang.

Mick picked it up without looking at the ID, “hello?”

“Mick?” Len’s voice was wet.

Was he drunk? Fuck it.

Everything bubbled over. “Damn it Len, I can’t do this anymore!” He slammed the phone down on the table, breathing heavily. It was a few minutes before he realized it was still making sounds. He lifted it to his ear again.

Lisa’s voice was distant but that didn’t cut down on the desperation, “No, come on, Lenny! You don't get to be a jerk to me this time! Come on!”

There was another voice. It was closer. Len’s drawl came out in a broken caugh. “Love you… trainwreck.”

He was hearing it. Hearing Len die and now he really was crying, pushing the phone against his ear so hard it hurt.

“Len, I’m sorry. I’m here.” God, why had he let this happen? He should have been there, should have said something.

Len let out a little choked off laugh, then went silent.

Mick waited, holding his breath.

Lisa was still there in the background, talking to someone. Mick closed his eyes. He heard them call for an ambulance. Lisa started sobbing before it arrived.

The call cut off in the confusion that followed. Mick let the phone slide out of his fingers.

At some point Amaya came in. She sat next to Mick again, wrapping an arm around him.

“He’s gone.” Mick managed to croak out. Len had been his brother. The only person to ever try to stand by him, even if they hadn’t parted on the best terms.

“I know,” she said, “I know, but he’ll be back.”

**Author's Note:**

> So...  
> When I first read "Set a Fire In My Head" I wasn't sure what to think. There were a lot of feelings. It got me thinking about how the original story had brought Len back only to kill him. How would Mick react when he found out? Then I started thinking about how people never really die in comic/superhero universes. How that almost makes things worse. To get pulled through that pain again and again, with no way to stop it...  
> Which brought me back to the fic, and the basis of this remix.


End file.
